Lying to get a date: The effect of facial physical attractiveness on the willingness to deceive prospective dating partners (original) (raw)
Related papers
2010
This study examines the role of online daters’ physical attractiveness in their profile selfpresentation and, in particular, their use of deception. Sixty-nine online daters identified the deceptions in their online dating profiles and had their photograph taken in the lab. Independent judges rated the online daters’ physical attractiveness. Results show that the lower online daters’ attractiveness, the more likely they were to enhance their profile photographs and lie about their physical descriptors (height, weight, age). The association between attractiveness and deception did not extend to profile elements unrelated to their physical appearance (e.g., income, occupation), suggesting that their deceptions were limited and strategic. Results are discussed in terms of (a) evolutionary theories about the importance of physical attractiveness in the dating realm and (b) the technological affordances that allow online daters to engage in selective self-presentation.
Dating deception: Gender, online dating, and exaggerated self-presentation
Computers in Human Behavior, 2011
This study examined how differences in expectations about meeting impacted the degree of deceptive self-presentation individuals displayed within the context of dating. Participants filled out personality measures in one of four anticipated meeting conditions: face-to-face, email, no meeting, and a control condition with no pretense of dating. Results indicated that, compared to baseline measures, male participants increased the amount they self-presented when anticipating a future interaction with a prospective date. Specifically, male ...
Self-presentation and deceptive presentation contribute to how one communicates in Tinder. In this study, the researchers explored how 200 Tinder users present themselves in the online platform. Using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Regression Analysis, this study revealed significant relationships between self-presentation and deception motives to online dating communication behaviors. Moreover, findings have shown that there is a significant difference between male and female self-presentations, deception presentation, and behaviors. The study concludes that positive self-presentation and negative deception presentations are used by Tinder users in order for them to be positively swiped and liked in Tinder.
Due to its particular conditions, the Internet increases opportunities for lies and deception compared to offline interactions. In online dating, misrepresentation of the self is an issue of particular relevance. Previous studies have shown that searching for a mate online is accompanied by a high risk of being deceived. This paper focuses on the rarely-considered perspective of the receivers of deception. Our study will first investigate deception patterns of men and women in online dating profiles. In a second step, modes of detecting deception (e-mail, telephone, face-to-face, etc.) are analyzed. Using online survey data of 3,535 users of a German dating site, results show (1) gender-specific deception patterns: Women are more likely to misrepresent their physical attractiveness; men are more likely to misrepresent information on marital status, intended relationship, and height. (2) These gender-specific deception patterns are associated with specific detection modes. Women are more likely to detect specific male deceptions during e-mail communication in an early stage of dating, whereas men are more likely to detect specific female deceptions at the first face-to-face meeting. These results highlight the link between different kinds of deception, characteristics of the receiver and its detection via different communication technologies. Implications of the results for the mating process are discussed.